Title
Pyro Copper Mining Corporation vs. Mines Adjudication Board-DENR
Case
G.R. No. 179674
Decision Date
Jul 28, 2009
Pyro Copper contested Montague's mining permit, alleging procedural errors and jurisdiction issues. Courts dismissed due to lapses, mootness, and lack of authority, affirming strict procedural compliance and jurisdictional limits.
procedural errors
dismissal
protest
A

Case Summary (G.R. No. 179674)

Factual Background

Petitioner’s mining rights began with its Application for Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA) identified as APSA-SF-000089, approved by the MGB on 31 March 2000, and issued as MPSA No. 153-2000-1 for exploration, development, and commercial utilization of pyrite ore and other mineral deposits in a tract in Dasol, Pangasinan. Private respondent later filed an Application for Exploration Permit on 12 September 2003 with the MGB, covering properties overlapping with the subsisting MPSA of petitioner.

Petitioner filed a Verified Protest/Opposition against private respondent’s application, which it alleged was filed with the Panel of Arbitrators on 30 August 2005 and received on 5 September 2005, docketed as Case No. 2005-00012-I. Before petitioner’s filing, however, petitioner’s MPSA had already been cancelled through DMO No. 2005-03, issued by DENR Secretary Michael Defensor on 1 February 2005, and the Secretary’s denial of petitioner’s reconsideration was reflected in a Decision dated 14 June 2005.

Meanwhile, on 1 September 2005, the MGB issued EP No. 05-001 to private respondent. After receiving petitioner’s Verified Protest/Opposition, the Panel of Arbitrators dismissed it motu proprio in an Order dated 14 September 2005, based on procedural and jurisdictional reasons: the pleading was filed out of time; the issuance of EP No. 05-001 rendered the opposition moot and academic; the Panel lacked authority to cancel or revoke the exploration permit since the permit lay with the MGB; and the protest lacked a certification against forum shopping. Petitioner’s motion for reconsideration was denied on 27 December 2005.

Petitioner then appealed to the Mines Adjudication Board. In a Decision dated 28 December 2006 in MAB Case No. 0147-06, the MAB dismissed the appeal, holding that the Verified Protest/Opposition had been filed beyond the reglementary period and that it failed to include a certification against forum shopping.

Petitioner thereafter filed a Petition for Review under Rule 43 before the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. SP No. 97663, assailing the MAB’s Decision. In a Resolution dated 23 February 2007, the Court of Appeals dismissed the Petition for failure to attach pertinent and relevant documents required by Section 6 of Rule 43. After petitioner sought reconsideration and attached the required documents except proof of the signatory’s authority for the verification and certification against forum shopping, the Court of Appeals issued a Resolution dated 6 September 2007, denying reconsideration for lack of merit and for petitioner’s failure to show that Atty. Vicente R. Acsay had authority to sign the verification and certification against forum shopping. The present Rule 45 petition followed.

Issues Raised by the Petitioner

Petitioner framed multiple issues, principally challenging: (a) the Court of Appeals’ dismissal despite alleged compliance with procedural requirements on disclosure through the verification and certification; (b) the dismissal despite the later submission of proof of authority to sign; (c) the refusal to adjudicate in light of supposed exceptional character of the case and paramount public interest; and (d) alleged grave error and grave abuse of discretion in the agencies’ determinations that the opposition was filed out of time, that the issuance of the exploration permit and the cancellation of the MPSA rendered the opposition moot, that the Panel lacked jurisdiction to revoke EP No. 05-001, and that the absence of a forum shopping certification warranted dismissal.

The Court addressed these more specific questions in the order stated in the decision: whether the later submitted board minutes sufficiently granted Atty. Acsay authority to sign; whether the Verified Protest/Opposition was filed out of time; whether the forum shopping certification was required for a protest before the MAB; whether the issuance of DMO No. 2005-03 and EP No. 05-001 rendered the opposition moot and academic; and whether the Panel of Arbitrators had jurisdiction to cancel or revoke EP No. 05-001.

The Parties’ Position on Atty. Acsay’s Authority to Sign the Verification and Certification

Petitioner contended that Atty. Acsay was an incorporator, stockholder, board member, corporate secretary, and legal counsel, and therefore the best person to execute the sworn disclosures. Petitioner also invoked that the Minutes of the Special Meeting held on 22 January 2007 authorized Atty. Acsay to sign not only the verification for the Motion for Extension of Time, but also verifications that might be required in subsequent pleadings filed by petitioner, thus covering the verification and certification attached to the Petition for Review.

Respondents countered that petitioner failed to prove Atty. Acsay’s authority in the required manner for the specific verification and certification submitted with the Petition for Review. The Court examined the governing rules on certification against forum shopping and corporate authority to sign.

Legal Standards on Certification Against Forum Shopping for Corporations

Under Section 6(d), Rule 43 in relation to Section 2, Rule 42 of the 1997 Revised Rules of Civil Procedure, the petition for review was required to contain a sworn certification against forum shopping, with an undertaking to disclose or report other pending similar actions and their status. Under Section 7, Rule 43, noncompliance with the requirements concerning the contents and documents accompanying the petition was sufficient ground for dismissal. The requirement applied to corporations as well, given that the rules made no distinction between natural and juridical persons.

The Court reiterated that a corporation exercises its powers through its board of directors and/or duly authorized officers and agents. Physical acts, such as signing sworn documents, must be performed only by natural persons duly authorized for that purpose. The signatory must be a duly authorized director or officer of the corporation and must have knowledge of the matters certified. If the certification was not signed by a duly authorized person, the petition was subject to dismissal.

Court’s Findings on Whether the Board Minutes Granted Sufficient Authority

The Court noted that the Court of Appeals initially dismissed petitioner’s Rule 43 Petition on 23 February 2007 for failure to attach pertinent and relevant documents under Section 6 of Rule 43. Petitioner filed a Motion for Reconsideration, which the Court of Appeals treated with partial leniency by initially giving petitioner five days to submit the proof of Atty. Acsay’s authority, through a Resolution dated 8 June 2007.

Petitioner then submitted Minutes of a Special Meeting held on 22 January 2007. The Minutes resolved that Atty. Acsay, as Director and Corporate Secretary, was authorized “to make and sign the verification of the pleading filed by [petitioner] entitled ‘Motion for Extension of Time to File Petition for Review under Rule 43 of the Rules of Court.’” The Court held that the board resolution’s wording was explicit and did not extend authority to sign the Petition for Review itself, including the verification and certification against forum shopping attached thereto. The Court rejected petitioner’s argument that the board resolution’s reference to the Motion for Extension of Time was not restrictive. The Minutes did not provide authority for Atty. Acsay to sign the Petition for Review’s verification and certification.

As petitioner submitted only the Minutes and no other satisfactory proof of Atty. Acsay’s authority to sign the verification and certification for the Petition for Review, the Court concluded that there was no proof of actual authority. Given the doctrine that a certification not signed by a duly authorized person renders the petition subject to dismissal, the Court upheld the Court of Appeals’ 6 September 2007 final dismissal.

The Court also acknowledged that prior jurisprudence had relaxed the rules on verification and forum shopping certification in certain cases. Nevertheless, it held that the relaxation could not be applied where petitioner had from the beginning failed to attach the required documents to its Petition for Review, and it had two opportunities to comply—when filing the Motion for Reconsideration and upon compliance after the Court of Appeals’ 8 June 2007 Resolution. The Court emphasized that while procedure was not to be treated as a game of technicalities, procedural rules could not be ignored at will to the prejudice of orderly adjudication and the just resolution of issues.

Whether the Verified Protest/Opposition Was Filed Out of Time

Even assuming arguendo that the certification issue could be set aside, the Court found that the Verified Protest/Opposition was properly dismissed for being filed out of time. Petitioner asserted that it filed within the reglementary period, and that it paid the legal fees through postal money order. The Court examined the computation based on the applicable administrative rule.

The Court treated the last posting date of the notices of private respondent’s Application for Exploration Permit as 28 July 2005, since the record showed that the application notices were posted in various public places, with the MGB posting concluding on that date. Under Section 21 of DAO No. 96-40, adverse claims, protests, or oppositions had to be filed within thirty (30) calendar days from the last date of posting. The Court applied the rule on computing time under the 1997 Revised Rules of Civil Procedure because the rules on pleadings, practice, and procedure before the Panel of Arbitrators and the MAB did not contain provisions on computation of time and the manner of filing.

The Court computed that the thirty-day period ended on 27 August 2005, which was a Saturday. A declaration of a national holiday on 29 August 2005 required the time to run only on the next working day. Thus, petitioner’s last b

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